Emberbone's Tale
by Flickering Ember
Summary: A young kit is the victim of a prophecy- he was ripped from his nest, and thrown to the foxes to be killed. But there was a small problem... He lived.
1. A Nightmare Prophecy

A Nightmare Prophecy

Blood. Blood was everywhere. It covered every surface like some sort of hell-borne snow. The pure mountain air was marred by the tang of it. The safe camp paths were slick and treacherous. What little plant life there was, was now dying as it dripped from their leaves.

Corpses littered the ground, the obvious source of the blood.

In the middle of MountainClan's camp sat a kit, who couldn't have been more than three moons old. He was playing with a moss-ball, either oblivious or ignoring the carnage that surrounded him.

A strange thing happened, as she watched the kit. Black shadows, like souls, weaved into the camp to surround the kit. They remained as formless shadows for a time, before moving away, towards the bodies of her clan-mates. Each one stopped at a certain body, and each let out a cry of distress before swarming towards the kit, stopping just shy of his form.

It was like they couldn't touch him, even if they wanted to. Or they were too scared to do it. Either way, it terrified her when the shadows gave up and glided towards her. Voices filtered into her head.

"Can't be dead..."

"Still here..."

"Can we leave...?"

"His fault..."

"Kill him..."

"Should've..." The voices quieted as one of the shadows took the form of a spectral cat.

"Who... Who are you? What happened here?!" She whispered, staring at the shadow-cat.

"I am... Foxstar, at least, in the nearby future. You must warn the Clan. Tell them of the kit you see playing. He must be killed, before he has been alive for more than three moons." The shadow growled. "Or... This dream will be a reality."


	2. Sacrifice

Chapter One

Sacrifice

The ground beneath him was crunchy and soft. But it was cold- very cold. The kit shivered. What had happened? One moment he had been in some warm green stuff, and drinking milk, the next some warm moving thing had taken him here. Would one of them take him back there? The idea of going back was a happy one, so he started mewling. If a friendly moving thing heard him, that one might bring him back to the warm and cozy green stuff!

His hope was smashed when one of them silenced him (by slamming his face into the cold white), just as another began speaking. The voice was loud and commanding. The kit didn't like the voice at all.

"Let all cats old enough to traverse the Mountain Trial gather here for a Clan meeting!" The voice called. There was a lot of commotion, and some confused whispers, as the 'cats' did as they were told.

"Barely a moon ago, our loyal Medicine Cat, Sparrowdive, came to me with grave tidings. She had a prophetic dream. Our camp was soaked in blood, and our corpses littered the ground. In the midst of this, a single kit was playing. A spirit warned her that the kit that she saw would bring about this disaster. Sparrowdive was told that the kit had to be killed before three moons had passed."

"So I stand before you today, with a way to halt the prophecy. We are going to do as warned. The kit is going to be sacrificed."

The voice paused as whispers and growls spread throughout the camp.

"Silence!" The voice roared, and there was silence. "We will give the kit to the fox that lives outside of MountainClan territory. Heatherstep, Shrewtail, and Icegaze- meet me in my den. Bring the kit."

There were more shuffling sounds as the cats went back to what they were doing, and a few disgruntled murmurs as they discussed what was about to be done. One set of steps got louder, as he pulled his head from the cold white. The cat moving toward him had cold, pale blue eyes and was white and very, very pale blue.

He started to try and move away, but the moving thing easily caught him and picked him up. He instinctively curled into a ball and closed his eyes as he swung in her jaws. More than once he hit a rough surface, but he didn't complain. Something told him that if he did, the cat carrying him would just make it worse.

The kit cracked open an eye as the swaying ceased- they had stopped. He was in a dim place, with dark ground surrounding him and a dank smell- like wet earth. He opened his other eye to get a better look.

There were three 'cats' in the den as well, aside from the one that was carrying him. One was lying in a bunch of the soft, warm, green stuff. That one was a grayish color with white and black strands of fur. Its eyes were a cold, bright yellow.

The next one looked nicer- the cat was smaller than the rest of the cats, had pale brown stripes, and was a darker brown color. Her green eyes were kind.

The final one was grey with brown eyes. He seemed… so ordinary, so… ignorable, that the kit soon forgot he was there, and moved his attention to the yellow-eyed one.

"You can put him down now, Icegaze." The yellow-eyed one growled.

The cat carrying him simply dropped him, and he gave a cry of pain as his belly and chest connected with the rough ground. Once again he tried to escape the mean cat- Icegaze- but was stopped when she put a paw on his back, pushing him into the dirt. He made a sound of annoyance, but otherwise kept silent, and still.

"As I said earlier," the yellow-eyed one started- the kit's ears flicked in recognition- this was the one that gave the speech! "We are indeed going to sacrifice the kit, but, we are not going to let the fox realize that it is eating cat meat, to protect our clan from a new danger… So, we are going to have him rolled in various plants and herbs, to make sure that his smell is camouflaged. If you fail in this step, I will have you all exiled- do you understand?"

The kit let his attention wander as the cat's voice droned on and on and on… So boring! The cat's paw had moved from his back, so he started exploring.

The kit stumbled to his small paws, and carefully walked to one of the walls. He fell a few times, and tripped over his own paws, but he got there okay.

He stared at the wall. It was pretty boring too, but there was one interesting thing- the rocks were weird looking. Curious, he began to pull one out.

There was an ominous rumble, and the den wall shook violently, before settling. The kit looked over at the four cats.

Not one of them had noticed.

The kit thought about what had just happened for a moment. The wall, it looked like it had been about to fall, and if the wall fell… Would the roof fall too? If the roof fell, what would happen then?

The kit shook his head, and looked back at the interestingly shaped rock. Maybe nothing would happen.

The kit went back to pulling at the stone, this time getting it free. The whole den began to shake and growl.

The kit whimpered, and stumbled back over to the cats. He nudged the friendly-looking one, who was peering up at the ceiling with curiosity and alarm. The kit mewled and nudged her again, this time the cat picked him up, and rushed out of there, the rest of the four following closely.

They had just gotten out when the den gave another ominous growl and caved in. The kit couldn't help but wonder if he caused it.

Once again he was dropped, but his mewl of protest was muffled by the rock he still carried- the one he had taken from the den wall.

"Little demon!" The grey cat snarled then looked at the three cats he had called out. "Go now, before he brings another disaster."

The three nodded curtly, and he was picked up and taken away.

_**AN: Daw, look at the nameless, young, walking disaster area!**_

_***clears throat***_

_**Uh... Yeah, so... Guess who the kit is!**_

_**...**_

_**...**_

_**What? I'm not going to tell you!**_

_***Yawn* Sorry, it's really late- but please people, review! I'd really appreciate it. :)**_

_**Oh, and uh... Flamers who write flamey-flames that're meant to be cruel and hurt? Ya'll can jump out of a thirtieth-floor window in a hotel, okay? Well, not really, but I will use flames to warm plot bunnies and to burn dead plot bunnies. There seem to be an abundance of little plot bunny corpses in my vicinity... I wonder why...**_


	3. Dream

Chapter 2

Dream

Snow covered the ground, and a few cheerful clouds drifted on a backdrop of blue sky. A fox cub took a deep breath, drinking in the pure mountain air. His name was Brasa.

But there was one thing that constantly pestered him- he was different, very, very different from his Mom and his brother.

For one thing, he was smaller than them. Sure, he was younger than Bendiks (his brother) and Aija (his mother), but, according to Aija, he was smaller than a fox cub should have been at his age- one and a half moons.

Brasa looked down at his black paws. A normal fox's claws were always out, and were usually a bit dull. His went into his paws, and were very sharp. Aija once said that she had found him, practically frozen, outside of her den.

_Maybe I'm not a fox…_ Brasa scowled at himself, and roughly hit his head. _Of course I'm a fox! What else could I be?_

Brasa shook his head, banishing any thoughts of what he was and what he wasn't and trotted back to the den.

_I can worry 'bout it tomorrow... _He decided, stepping quietly into the den. Brasa wasn't supposed to be up this late (or early, if you're a daylight-creature), and would probably get into a lot of trouble if he was caught.

With a yawn he sank into the soft green moss and closed his eyes.

_Brasa's eyes opened slowly. It was dark, but he didn't smell, see, or hear anyone else- there weren't even any stale scents._

_Where was he?_

_His gaze wandered up to the sky, where a distant black served as the sky. No stars. No clouds. No moon._

_He shifted his attention to straight ahead._

_Chilling white mist crept over the ground. What few dead shrubs and poisonous berry bushes there were, were few and far between. A patch of mushrooms growing on a log glowed an ominous blue._

_Brasa shuddered._

_He was certainly not on the mountain anymore._

_With fear following him like a shadow, he started walking forward. He saw something glowing, but not in the same way as the mushrooms. It was... friendly? No, not friendly. But it wasn't nearly as frightening as this bleak wasteland, so he followed the light._

_The light shifted and danced away._

_He sped up._

_The light jumped a bit, and ducked behind a bush of bright red berries._

_Brasa poked his head into the bush. Nothing._

_There was a chime from behind him._

_Brasa turned towards it warily._

_The light was making the sound. And repeating it like a songbird._

_His ears twitched. The chiming was beautiful._

_Suddenly, a quiet laugh sounded. It rang out like thunder in the new-found silence._

_The light flickered and sputtered as a shadow- a shadow darker than the darkness- appeared behind it._

_The light gave out._

_"Damn!" The shadow cursed angrily, in a voice that was distinctly young. "I thought I was free!"_

_Brasa frowned at the swear, but kept silent._

_"Just another rotten trick... They enjoy playing with us..." The shadow looked up. "Don't you, Starclan? YOU LOVE TO WATCH US SUFFER!"_

_Brasa took a step back- the shadow was insane, if that was possible._

_"Trick?" Brasa's voice was soft and scared._

_The shadow's attention shifted to him, but it cringed away._

_"You... Are you new here?" The shadow asked._

_Brasa nodded._

_"Hm. That explains the glow." The shadow murmured to itself._

_"Glow?" His voice was stronger now._

_"... Yeah. The new ones always glow. They glow like fireflies, then they start to dim, and dim, and dim, until they don't glow anymore. Like me." The shadow sighed and sat down. Or it seemed to, anyway._

_"What do you mean by 'the new ones'?"_

_"The ones who just got here- unless they're dreaming. Dunno why anyone would want to come here though." The shadow replied. It went back to looking straight at him. "Speaking of dreams... You don't seem to belong here..."_

_"What do you mean by that?"_

_The shadow gave another sigh, and looked up at him. "I mean, you're a bit... see-through. You aren't really here- which means you aren't dead."_

_Brasa's frown returned. He was talking to dead person? "Okay... What's StarClan?"_

_"Them?" The shadow spat. "They are a huge group of good, dead people, who hang around in heaven, doing nothing but having chats with the living and tormenting the rest us down here!"_

_The shadow's voice had been rising steadily, and at the end of his statement, he was practically screaming._

_Brasa took another step back as the shadow took a deep breath. _Note to self: Avoid talking about 'StarClan'.

_The shadow took another calming breath, and exhaled loudly. "Sorry. I just hate them- they always send down lights that promise of heaven, when the lights are just like Will-o'-the-wisps - they only get you lost."_

_Something occurred to Brasa just then._

_"If StarClan is heaven, then is this... Hell?" Brasa murmured. It was only logical that this place would be- unless it was some form of Limbo or something._

_"Yep. Welcome to the Dark Forest." The shadow suddenly stood at alert. There was another chiming sound. "And there's another light... Gotta run."_

_And the shadow was gone._

_Brasa frowned again. Dark Forest? No, Hell was called the Starless Maze... And Heaven was the Land of Eternal Peace. Wasn't it?_

_Maybe the shadow had grown up where Heaven and Hell went by different names._

_Brasa shrugged to himself and yawned hugely. He was tired. Was it possible to get tired in a dream? Probably not, but he didn't think much of it._

_Brasa stretched, curled up, and closed his eyes._

_He could still hear the shadow cussing angrily in the distance._

_**An: That was Chapter two! Short n' Crappy... Well, not short... It was nine hundred and fifty four words (two and some odd pages), so I'm getting better with the idea of longer chapters.**_

_**Moving on, did you like it? Should I change anything? Did I screw up anything, grammar-wise?**_

_**ACK! Please tell me! Read and Review! I'm begging you! (Well, I'm not on my hands and knees, but you get the idea, right?)**_

_**P.S. WOOT! DOUBLE UPLOAD! As a way to make up for making my patient readers wait so long. Please forgive my lazy self.**_


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